Fire extinguisher



Nov. 14, 1950 M. H. COWAN 2,530,001

FIRE EXTINGUISHER Filed Aug. 2, 1948 ATTOR N EY Patented Nov. 14, 1950FIRE EXTINGUISHER Malcolm H. Cowan, Parkton, N. C.

Application August 2, 1948, Serial No. 41,961

3 Claims.

This invention relates in general to fire extinguishers and deals, moreparticularly, with improvements in nre extinguishers designed for uselin tobacco curing barns, and the like, for protection against fire whiletobacco is in the process of curing or drying.

In the curing of tobacco, it is a common practice to suspend orotherwise attach bunches of loose tobacco leaves along the lengths ofrods or sticks which are mounted in a tobacco curing barn or shed inclosely spaced parallel relation in the manner of horizontal tiers. Inany such arrangement of the tobacco for drying in a tobacco curing barn,the tobacco is more or less in the form of a large composite mass oftobacco leaves which presents a special problem in providing forprotection against the constant danger of a sudden re that might rapidlyconsume the valuable tobacco and destroy the tobacco barn.

The use of the well known fused-or iixed type sprinkler heads arrangedin rows along'the tiers of hung tobacco leaves is unsatisfactoryinasmuch as the fixed sprinkler heads are surrounded on all sides by thesuspended tobacco which necessarily restricts the spray of theextinguishing uid to only relatively small areas. Likewise, the useY offused or other xed type sprinkler heads along the roof of the tobaccocuring barn is inadequate and unsatisfactory due to the fact that anynre occurring in the lower area of the b arn would burn upwardly throughthe valuable tobacco before the fused sprinkler heads are set inoperation. Moreover, the use of xed sprinkler heads requires aconsiderable number of individual sprinklers and an elaborate system ofpipes which makes any such installation entirely too costly and the usethereof prohibitive inzinstances which warrant only an inexpensive reextinguisher.

AThe're extinguisher of the present invention is especially designed foruse in tobacco curing barns, and the like, to overcome the foregoingproblems and insufciencies, and a primary object of the invention is toprovide highly simplied lire extinguisher apparatus and arrangementwhich is relatively cheap and inexpensive and may be installed readilyin any existing tobacco barn or included in any new tobacco barnstructure at relatively low cost and expense.

iThe apparatus is particularly advantageous from a cost standpoint inthat most installations' require only a pair of inexpensive rotarysprinklers which are mounted adjacent the roof and'V floor,respectively, of the tobacco vcuring barn and which, in the case of re,are arranged to spray the fire extinguishing fluid over re1a" tivelywide areas simultaneously from both the top and bottom of the tiers ofhung tobacco to provide what may be termed a compression effect` of thesprayed fire extinguishing uid on any re withinv the barn to extinguishthe same' quickly and positively. Another object of the invention,therefore, is to provide a rlre extinguisher of the character describedwhich includes the novel arrangement of cooperating sprinklers or spraysarranged at both the top and bottom of a building structure such as atobacco barn, and which comprises, furthenrotary jet-type sprinklerswhich are adapted to throw a greater volume of re extinguishing iluidand spray the same over relatively large areas in the most effectivemanner.

A further object of the invention is to provide-a re extinguisher of thekind aforesaid,l which is automatically set into operation in the caseof a fire and in which the re extinguishing fluid is supplied to therotary sprinklers under pressure in such a way that a maximum volume ofthe fluid is diffused as quickly as possible to extinguish any fire inthe shortest time and in the most effective manner.

Further objects and advantages and other new and useful features in theconstruction, arrangement' and general combination of parts of theinvention will be readily apparent as the following description proceedswith reference to the accompanying-drawings, for purposes ofillustration but not of limitation in which like reference charactersdesignate like parts throughout, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through aV tobacco barn,or the like,showing the general organization of the re extinguisher of the inventionin which rotary type sprinklers are arranged for vspraying the nreextinguishing fluid from both the top and bottom of the tiers of hungtobacco;

Y Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the storage tank included inthe general organization of F'ig.

*1 which contains the fire extinguishing uid and includes means forforcing said fluid under pressure to the rotary sprinklers;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of the spring loaded valve shownemployed in Fig. 1 for providing an automatic discharge of the nreextinguishing vllud to the rotary sprinklers; and

Fig. 4k is a perspective view illustrating one ofv the nozzles on` thearms of the rotary sprinklers.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- 3. ings, the nreextinguisher of the invention is shown in Fig. 1, by way of illustrationonly, as installed in a building structure B, Which may be of any size,design or construction. in the present example, the structure B isillustrated as one of conventional type comprising walls I on the oorngor ground 3, and a roof 5 representing a tobacco curing barn of anydesired size. The barn is provided with any suitable means for mountinga series of rods 8, sticks or poles in horizontal, generally paralleland spaced relation throughout the height of the barn except for asuitable spacing from the floor 3 and adjacent the roof 5. Prior to themounting ofA the rods or sticks in the barn, bunches of green tobaccoleaves 9 to be dried or cured are secured to the sticks in suspendedrelation along the lengths thereof. The tobacco carrying sticks as thusloaded with tobacco are mounted throughout the barn in a series ofhorizontal tiers so that the hung tobacco is arranged in a mass ofclosely spaced bunches of tobacco leaves to be subjected to the dryingor curing process..

The heat for the curing or drying process is supplied by one or two ormore heating devices (not shown) which are located in thespace betweenthe lowermost tiers of tobacco and the ground or flooring 3 of the barn.During the curing process, a barn temperature is maintained from 140 F.to 180 F., the latter being the nal temperature used to dry the stem onthe tobacco leaf. The heat for these high temperatures is usuallysupplied by heating devices using kerosene or fuel oil andA theseheating devices maintain a temperature of 800 F. to 1200" F. in order toproduce the desired barn temperature. This barn temperature ismaintained for a period of some one hundred twenty hoursvwithoutinterruption during which the barn and the tobacco being cured aresubject to constant danger of loss by nre due to various causes such as,overheating ofthe heating devices, broken fuel lines, flooded oilburners, loose tobacco and tobacco sticks falling on hot parts of theheating devices, and spontaneous combustion` as a result of overheatedconditions in the tobacco barnv after the tobacco has dried.

Thefire extinguisher arrangement. of the present invention guardsagainst these various re hazards in that it is adapted to operateautomatically toy extinguish quickly any fire within the barn,particularly in the mass of hung. tobacco and also in the area of theheating devicesl which are usually the source ofy the fire; Inasmuch assuch heating devices are usually oil fired, the arrangement preferablyis such that the fire extinguishing fluid employed is especially suitedfor extinguishing oilfires and with such fluid sprayed under pressure inthe most effectivey manner. f

As shown in Fig. l, a sprinkling or spraying. deviceY I in the form of asimple rotary jet sprinkler is provided below the mass of hung tobaccoin the space between the flooring 3 of the barn and thelowermost tiersof tobacco sticks 8. The rotary sprinkler is mounted in any suitablemanner in connection with a Yfeed pipe 20 which preferably is embeddedin the ground below the flooring 3 to minimize any fire hazard in thisrespect. The rotary sprinkler l0 preferably is of the type having aseries of Yradial arms H, carried by a rotatable head I 2, and providedon their extremities with nozzles i3 having-spraying perforations lll,as illustra-ted in Fig. 4. The rotary sprinkler, otherwise, isVdesirably onewhich 4 is precision-built and with the head 2 mounted onstainless steel ball bearings to ensure rotation of the sprinkler headat high speed and to avoid any possibility of faulty operation as aresult 5 of rusting over any extended period in which the fireextinguisher may be idle before it is required to be used.

About the mass of hung tobacco, a similar rotary sprinkler I0 is mountedfor operation in the space between the top of the barn and the uppermosttiers of tobacco. In the present example, the upper sprinkler iii isshown mounted on a brace i6 adjacent the roof 5 of the barn andconnected to a feed pipe 2l extending down along l5 the side Wall of thebarn to a T-connection 25. The feed pipe to the lower sprinkler l!! isalso joined to Vsaid T-connection in communication with a supply pipe 27from a storage tank 30 containing the fire extinguishing uid 32, Fig. 2.

20 In association with the piping to the sprinklers iii; i0', asdescribed,A similar conduits to the :areas of the heating devices (notshown) .are provided having suitable nozzles forrspraying the.- oilburners of the heating `devices with re' extinguishing fluid to smotherand extinguishA the; same at the same time-the rotary sprinklers arevset into operation to extinguishanygiire in and around thel tobacco,therebypreventing any recurrence of fire' after theVV extinguisher hasbeen;F

30l discharged. Y Y. n f

The storage tank 3G rfor there extinguishing?. fluid may be ofany;selecteddesign'andas shown. in Fig. 2. comprises an'elongatecylinder lmounted on the outside of the vbar in connection with the;

upper end of the supply pipe 21. f The tank 305isrl provided in a sizesufficient toY contain the. quired'volumeiof the'selected type of? reexetinguishing` fluidV asv necessary for. thegpurposesin.- .l

tended depending on'` the size. of-"the barnor.- other.

40 building and the areas therein to be protectedi The fireextinguishing iluid may be eith'erwater, carbon tetrachloride,carbon-'dioxide or any other' suitable liquid. Inthe present example,the-nre extinguishing fluid 32 preferablyis carbon tetra.'-`

chloride and is maintained in Areadiness for oper-Y ationof the reextinguisher at` all times under apressure of aboutfty pounds providedby a pressure container 35 such as a CO2 bottle, compressed aircylinder, or the like; The CO2 con-V tainer 35 is suitably mounted onthe tank 30 andi provides, for example, a pressure of three hun--l Ydred to nve hundred pounds passingthrough-the connection 35 to areducing regulator Sithat-re-'f-` duces this pressure to theconstant-pressure of?V 55 about fifty pounds which is directed throughthev outlet 38 to the interior of the tank 30 and ontothe supply ofcarbon tetrachloride'z withinfthe tank. The tank apparatusotherwiseincludes a suitable safety valve Iii-itc preventf'the develop-f 00 mentof any dangerous pressure within the-tariky The actuating meansfortheire extinguisher is designed vto set the same into operationautoevnfiaticallyv and, to this end, a spring loaded valve 40j is provided inthe supplyv pipeline 21,. Figsl;`

and 3. As shown in Fig. 3, the springv loaded;

valvecoinprises a generally 'F-shapedvbogdyhav.-

ing a fluid passage therethrough whichincludesgazf.

washer seat; ilA `that is normally; closed by: a; disc; 42 carried by anaxially movable-plungergr?, hav-e ing suitable bushing elements andthelike anda:A

head t; retaining oneV or more leaf springs 4550n the plunger'.V Theleaf springs' r415; arebiasedrinfi; Wa-rdly inthe normal closed positionoftheivalvei by a, push-'pin d; whichinturn is forced; inward-1. ly byalever;4;1 pivotedintermediate its ends; byca'.;

hinged connection to a pair of spaced ears 48 provided by an arm 49 onthe valve body. The lower end of lthe lever 41, accordingly, engages thepush-pin 46 to urge the same inwardly under force when the upper end ofsaid lever 41 is moved outwardly.

= The upper end of said lever 41 is connected to a fusible cable 5U,wire, or the like, which extends horizontally through an opening in theadjacent wall of the barn. Fig. l and is secured to the opposite wall,for example, in tightly drawn tensioned condition to cause said lever 41to maintain the lvalve 4@ in its normal closed condition, as aforesaid.4The fusible wire or cable 50 thus is arranged in the most appropriateposition paralleling the tobacco carrying sticks 8 in the lower portionof the barn or in any other suitable manner throughout the barn `in themost practical relation to the heating devices on the ground or flooring3. The fusible wire or cable 50 may be of any suitable character and inthe present example, is shown comprising a series of wires 5| joined byfusible links 52 which are adapted to melt and rupture when subjected toa predetermined temperature. In any installation, such a fusible cableor wire 5D is provided in accordance with the construction of thetobacco curing barn or other building in a manner whereby the Cableextends throughout the various parts of the barn to meet any and allfire conditions.

In operation, it will be understood from the foregoing that when a fireoccurs within the barn, the temperature, of course, rises to a point inwhich the excessive heat causes one or more of the fusible links 52 tomelt and rupture, thereby breaking the cable 50 and releasing the samefrom its normal tensioned condition. The valve lever 41 connected tosaid cable, accordingly, is free to move to inoperative position, shownin broken lines in Fig. 3, thereby releasing the pressure on thepush-pin 46 controlling the valve 40. This permits the inwardly biasedleaf springs 45 to assume their untensioned condition, as represented indotted lines, to pull the valve plunger 43 outwardly and thereby spacethe washer disc 42 from the seat 4| to allow the re extinguishing fluidto pass through the valve 4B, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3. ASsoon as the valve 4G is thus atomatically opened, the pressure from theCO2 container 35 serves to force the carbon tetrachloride 32 or other reextinguishing liquid within the tank 36 to ilow swiftly through thesupply pipe 2l' to the feed pipes 2Q, 2l, leading to the rotarysprinklers IB, l0', at the base and top of the barn, respectively, andto the auxiliary pipes leading to the heating devices to extinguish theburners therein as promptly as possible, as aforesaid.

The fire extinguishing liquid under pressure causes the rotarysprinklers lll, l0', to rotate simultaneously at high speed and therebyspray the fire extinguishing liquid in a dense mist over relativelylarge areas into and completely around the mass of hung tobacco. Theaction is such that the lower rotary sprinkler l0 sprays a spiralingmist upwardly and outwardly while the upper sprinkler I0 provides aspiraling mist downwardly and outwardly. Consequently the opposing densemists of re extinguishing fluid provide a compression eect on the massof hung tobacco in a manner which quickly smothers and positivelyextinguishes in very little time any fire in the tobacco or otherwisewithin the barn.

After any such use of the fire extinguisher, the same may be readilyprepared for further use Vsimply by recharging the storage-tank 3U andthe pressure cylinder 35 and repairing the fusible cable 50 as requiredto provide the variousV parts in the relation shown in Fig. l inreadiness for another fire extinguishing operation in a repetition ofthe foregoing described "procedure. y l l j It will be appreciated thatVarious other arrangements may be employed .in which other kinds ofvfire extinguishing fluids are supplied under pressure to the rotarysprinklersat the top and bottom of the barn, respectively. For example,there extinguisher may be operated at very little cost by the use ofwater as the extinguishing fluid which is forced to theY rotarysprinklers under air pressure in the pressure cylinder 35 in asubstantially equivalent arrangement operating in the same generalmanner.

Also, in any installation in a relatively large tobacco curing barn, forexample, or other building in which it appears necessary or advisable toprovide a greater volume of ilre extinguishing fluid over larger areas,the rotary sprinklers may be installed in multiple at the top and baseof the barn, as in the manner of opposing series of rotary sprinklers incooperating relation.

While the invention has been described in detail with a specificexample, such example is intended as an illustration only, inasmuch asit will be apparent that other modifications in the construction,arrangement and general combination of parts may be devised withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. The presentembodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription, with all changes falling within the scope, meaning andrange of equivalency of the claims intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States LettersPatent is:

l. A re extinguisher for a tobacco curing barn or other building, saidre extinguisher comprising a rotary sprinkler positioned in the lowerarea of said building adapted to provide a mist of re extinguishingfluid directed upwardly and outwardly, a cooperating rotary sprinklerpositioned in the upper area of said building adapted to provide a mistof re extinguishing uid directed downwardly and outwardly, means forautomatically supplying fire extinguishing fluid to said rotarysprinklers comprising a pipe connected to a supply of fire extinguishingfluid, a normally closed valve associated with said pipe and redetecting means in said building associated with said valve andproviding for opening of said valve in the event of re.

2. A fire extinguisher for a tobacco curing barn or other building, saidre extinguisher comprising a rotary sprinkler positioned in the lowerarea of said building adapted to provide a mist of fire extinguish-ingfluid directed upwardly and outwardly, a cooperating rotary sprinklerpositioned in the upper area of said building adapted to provide a mistof fire extinguishing :duid directed downwardly and outwardly, means forautomatically supplying fire extinguishing fluid to said rotarysprinklers comprising a pipe connected to a supply of fire extinguishingfluid, a spring loaded valve associated with said pipe, and a fusiblecable in said building connected to said spring loaded valve andmaintaining the same normally in closed position.

3. Aiire extinguisher. for atobacco curing" barn onotherbuilding,lsaidre extinguisher comprisinga rotary sprinkler positioned in the lowerareaof said building adapted. to providea mist of re extinguishing fluiddirected upwardly and outwardly;l a cooperating rotary sprinklerpositioned in the upper area of said building adapted toprovide a mistof re extinguishing uid. directed downwardly and outwardly, a, tankcontainingre. extinguishing fluid to be supplied to saidrotarysprinklers, a pressure container associated with said tank providing forflow of said fluid under pressure, a. pipe connected to said tankv andleading to said rotary sprinklers, a spring loaded valveassocated withsaid pipe, and a fusible cable insaid building connected to said Thefollowing references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,488,289 Ruff Mar. 25, 19241,551,872 Fudalski Sept. 1, 1925 1,594,321 Norman July 27, 19261,826,072 Hamilton Oct.. 6, 1931 2,171,487 Theeler Aug.- 29, 1939

